30 December 2009
pick one.
“If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. … the Catholic Church is the only Church existing today which goes back to the time of Christ. History is so very clear on this point, it is curious how many miss its obviousness…” - Abp. Fulton Sheen
29 December 2009
Reflections on the Christ
He was conceived and born contrary to all biological law.
He grew up to be a very bothersome man.
He told the truth and it cost Him His life.
He could have avoided assassination by going fishing in Galilee for the weekend.
He was often seen talking and laughing after His death.
He remains forever a question mark with which people are never quite finished.
Non-believers forever worry lest they might be wrong.
The Church He founded is discussed daily on the first pages of the major newspapers of the world.
What might He have accomplished has He lived to 50?
As a babe, He terrified a King. As a youngster, He puzzled scholars. As a man, He intimidated a Roman Governor.
He was constantly in hot water. He did not seem to mind. He felt it would keep Him clean. He has no training in psychiatry. Yet, He has cured more minds and spirits than anyone else in history. - G.K. Chesterton.
Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon established mighty empires by force. He began His with love and service. Theirs have disappeared. His remains.
Statesmen have legislated on their turn. Artists and philosophers have reigned for a short period. Some have said they were more popular than He. But their names are written in the sand. His is spoken with frequency by one billion followers.
Each week, millions assemble to salute Him in the Eucharist. He spoke that last night to a small band of illiterate men as though the memorial ceremony would continue down through the centuries. History has proved Him correct.
He calls us to Liturgy both to remember Him and worship Him.
The first food consumed on the moon was bread and wine consumed in His name.
Those who discover they cannot believe in Him live with sorrow. Those who believe but lack the courage to resemble Him survive with regret.
Though centuries separate us from Him, He is more vital than we. We will not even be memories in the next generation, but He will flourish.
He no longer stands in the dock. He has nothing to prove. He has survived the test of time. It is we who are on trial in our reaction to Him.
Unlike countless peoples who impacted society by jumping in front of it and going with the flow, He got in front of the parade to take it in the opposite direction.
No historian can portray humanity honestly without giving Him the foremost place. - H.G. Wells.
Millions utter His name upon rising. Other millions will shout it throughout the day in anger or pain. For still other millions, it is the last name they whisper before they die and the first they expect to speak when they awaken in His presence.
He is the hero you could never invent. - Robert Griffin.
Angels rush to Him. Devils flee from Him.
He not only pushed the envelope. He broke through it.
In a poor mans apparel, He pursues us always.
He is the long delayed but always expected something we live for. - Tennessee Williams.
His name is not so much written into the history of the world as ploughed. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
He changed B.C into A.D. - Harry Emerson Fosdick.
He has no interest in people theorising about Him but rather reproducing Him in their lives. - Albert Nolan.
It is not He who needs us. It is we who need Him.
He grew up to be a very bothersome man.
He told the truth and it cost Him His life.
He could have avoided assassination by going fishing in Galilee for the weekend.
He was often seen talking and laughing after His death.
He remains forever a question mark with which people are never quite finished.
Non-believers forever worry lest they might be wrong.
The Church He founded is discussed daily on the first pages of the major newspapers of the world.
What might He have accomplished has He lived to 50?
As a babe, He terrified a King. As a youngster, He puzzled scholars. As a man, He intimidated a Roman Governor.
He was constantly in hot water. He did not seem to mind. He felt it would keep Him clean. He has no training in psychiatry. Yet, He has cured more minds and spirits than anyone else in history. - G.K. Chesterton.
Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon established mighty empires by force. He began His with love and service. Theirs have disappeared. His remains.
Statesmen have legislated on their turn. Artists and philosophers have reigned for a short period. Some have said they were more popular than He. But their names are written in the sand. His is spoken with frequency by one billion followers.
Each week, millions assemble to salute Him in the Eucharist. He spoke that last night to a small band of illiterate men as though the memorial ceremony would continue down through the centuries. History has proved Him correct.
He calls us to Liturgy both to remember Him and worship Him.
The first food consumed on the moon was bread and wine consumed in His name.
Those who discover they cannot believe in Him live with sorrow. Those who believe but lack the courage to resemble Him survive with regret.
Though centuries separate us from Him, He is more vital than we. We will not even be memories in the next generation, but He will flourish.
He no longer stands in the dock. He has nothing to prove. He has survived the test of time. It is we who are on trial in our reaction to Him.
Unlike countless peoples who impacted society by jumping in front of it and going with the flow, He got in front of the parade to take it in the opposite direction.
No historian can portray humanity honestly without giving Him the foremost place. - H.G. Wells.
Millions utter His name upon rising. Other millions will shout it throughout the day in anger or pain. For still other millions, it is the last name they whisper before they die and the first they expect to speak when they awaken in His presence.
He is the hero you could never invent. - Robert Griffin.
Angels rush to Him. Devils flee from Him.
He not only pushed the envelope. He broke through it.
In a poor mans apparel, He pursues us always.
He is the long delayed but always expected something we live for. - Tennessee Williams.
His name is not so much written into the history of the world as ploughed. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
He changed B.C into A.D. - Harry Emerson Fosdick.
He has no interest in people theorising about Him but rather reproducing Him in their lives. - Albert Nolan.
It is not He who needs us. It is we who need Him.
24 December 2009
20 December 2009
18 December 2009
remember.
"Do not forget that true love sets no conditions; it does not calculate or complain, but simply loves."-JP2
15 December 2009
14 December 2009
12 December 2009
...and still He loves you.
There is never a sudden revelation, a complete and tidy explanation for why it happened, or why it ends, or why or who you are. You want one and I want one, but there isn’t one. It comes in bits and pieces, and you stitch them together wherever they fit, and when you are done you hold yourself up, and still there are holes and you are a rag doll, invented, imperfect. And yet you are all that you have, so you must be enough. There is no other way.
— Mayra Hornbacher, Wasted
— Mayra Hornbacher, Wasted
10 December 2009
06 December 2009
happy. period.
One day at school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said “Happy”. They said I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them they didn’t understand life.
05 December 2009
04 December 2009
Two from the Windshield...
Give Yourself Away
“Jesus said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’” ~Matthew 15: 34
Everyone has heard this story. Seven loaves and a few fish feed crowds of thousands with baskets full to spare. I usually interpret this gospel as a reminder that there is more than enough. God is boundless and likes to share. But my friend got me thinking about this story in another way. It is not just about God’s ability to do anything (even though he can). He could have fed the thousands without the seven loaves. But it says something about us that he would want us to participate in his miracles. That he would want us to give all we have even if the contribution looks pitiful compared to the need.
Love Letter
On this first day of December, I decided to give myself some advice, to let my smarter side speak kindly to my more panicky, frantic, worrisome self.
Dear Friend,
I know you doubt yourself and the world around you. You don’t have to. There’s enough time, talent, money and happiness to go around. Even when things don’t look like they are working out, trust that they are. Your big impossible dreams are closer than you think. So relax. Enjoy the holidays. And remember you are truly, deeply blessed.
Love,
Your Wiser Self
PS: Eat more vegetables and get some exercise.
VIA a GREAT blog
thank you note
When someone says "Thank You" it is a recognition of the love of the giver.
I thank God for you today because, through you, He loves and cares for me.
I thank God for you today because, through you, He loves and cares for me.
more!
"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love." - Mother Teresa
01 December 2009
30 November 2009
27 November 2009
26 November 2009
25 November 2009
just before
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best??"...and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was a VERY good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was BETTER than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. (A.A. Milne)
24 November 2009
22 November 2009
walk into the light
"Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining." — Anne Lamott
20 November 2009
17 November 2009
15 November 2009
self. love. try.
"I must learn to love the fool in me–the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool."
— Theodore I. Rubin, MD
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."
— C.S. Lewis
"Many things—such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly—are done worst when we try hardest to do them."
— C.S. Lewis
— Theodore I. Rubin, MD
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."
— C.S. Lewis
"Many things—such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly—are done worst when we try hardest to do them."
— C.S. Lewis
Restless until it rests in You...
All of us understand and have experienced the pressures and demands of life related to the pursuit of goals. We have stress in graduate school, stress at work, stress with families and stress with financial matters. It’s interesting that we tolerate this stress in the pursuit of a goal that we’re not really sure will make us satisfied in the end. In fact, many things that are valued, such as money and environmental factors (house, decor, auto, ect.) are what Herzberg calls “hygiene factors”. In other words, they do not increase satisfaction, but rather reduce dissatisfaction. According to the nuances of this theory, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are two different things, and different factors influence each. Theoretically, you can reduce dissatisfaction with an abundance of “hygiene” factors, but still be left with no satisfaction. The simple essence of the theory is that “hygiene” factors fulfill physiological needs, whereas “motivator” factors (such as achievement, experience, growth) fulfill psychological needs.
(via)
(via)
14 November 2009
12 November 2009
11 November 2009
09 November 2009
big church. B-I-G church.
The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. - Ralph W. Sockman
07 November 2009
03 November 2009
I'm your native son...
"There is nothing right now at this moment that justifies anything but wonder." - ADG
Get your ox outta here!
“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” ~Luke 14:5
I think Jesus is telling us something about God: God doesn’t hesitate to help us. He doesn’t think twice about helping us. He responds to our needs immediately, much like we would react if a loved one had fallen into a well.
Windshield
I think Jesus is telling us something about God: God doesn’t hesitate to help us. He doesn’t think twice about helping us. He responds to our needs immediately, much like we would react if a loved one had fallen into a well.
Windshield
02 November 2009
The Autumn Wind
(autumn storm by andrew gillette)The Autumn Wind is a pirate
Blustering in from sea
With a rollicking song he sweeps along
Swaggering boisterously
His face is weather beaten
He wears a hooded sash
With his silver hat about his head
And a bristly black moustache
He growls as he storms the country
A villain big and bold
And the trees all shake and quiver and quake
As he robs them of their gold
The Autumn wind is a Raider
Pillaging just for fun
He'll knock you round and upside down
And laugh when he's conquered and won
by: Steve Sabol
or
Amor in a mirror
“Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they loved her.” G.K. Chesteron in a discussion about what can happen to a city, or anything, when people pour their personal love into something.
01 November 2009
"I" into "we" into "Him"
If heaven means being in Christ, then it also means co-being with all those who together form the one Body of Christ. There is no isolation in heaven. It is the open society of the saints and, consequently, also the fulfillment of all human togetherness, not in competition with the Beatific Vision, but rather in consequence thereof.
Christian veneration of the saints depends on this knowledge, not on a mythical omniscience about the saints, but simply on the inviolable openness of every member of the whole Body of Christ to every other member, which presumes the unlimited closeness of love and is sure of finding God in everyone and everyone in God.
There results from this an anthropological component. The integration of the I into the Body of Christ, its being at the disposal of the Lord and of everyone else, is not a dissolution of the I but its purification, which, at the same time, fulfills its highest potential.
That is why heaven is different for each individual. Everyone sees God in his own way; everyone receives the love of the whole Body in his own unalterable uniqueness.
Co-Workers of the Truth
Pope Benedict XVI
Christian veneration of the saints depends on this knowledge, not on a mythical omniscience about the saints, but simply on the inviolable openness of every member of the whole Body of Christ to every other member, which presumes the unlimited closeness of love and is sure of finding God in everyone and everyone in God.
There results from this an anthropological component. The integration of the I into the Body of Christ, its being at the disposal of the Lord and of everyone else, is not a dissolution of the I but its purification, which, at the same time, fulfills its highest potential.
That is why heaven is different for each individual. Everyone sees God in his own way; everyone receives the love of the whole Body in his own unalterable uniqueness.
Co-Workers of the Truth
Pope Benedict XVI
True 2 U
My mother told me: 'If you want to become a soldier you will be a general; if you want to become a priest, you will be a pope'. I wanted to be a painter and I became Picasso!" -Pable Picasso
25 October 2009
21 October 2009
always open
Living in the presence of God does not mean constantly thinking about God. That would split us internally and be too much for us. Rather, it is a matter of opening oneself to a reality, surrendering oneself to the God who surrounds one.
Thus practicing the presence of God does not consist of training in concentration, but on the contrary of relaxing, letting oneself rest in the reality of God, in whom we move and are. Therefore this practice must be carried out not so much in the head as in the body.
Our hearts are to rest in the God who is present; our behavior, our posture, our way of speaking, standing, and walking, our internal collectedness in everything we do should witness to the experience of the God who is present.
Benedict of Nursia - His Message for Today
Anselm Grun, OSB
Thus practicing the presence of God does not consist of training in concentration, but on the contrary of relaxing, letting oneself rest in the reality of God, in whom we move and are. Therefore this practice must be carried out not so much in the head as in the body.
Our hearts are to rest in the God who is present; our behavior, our posture, our way of speaking, standing, and walking, our internal collectedness in everything we do should witness to the experience of the God who is present.
Benedict of Nursia - His Message for Today
Anselm Grun, OSB
16 October 2009
15 October 2009
7 stories
On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher
14 October 2009
11 October 2009
dos mas
"Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive."
Josephine Hart, Damage
"There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham…"
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
Josephine Hart, Damage
"There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham…"
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
08 October 2009
06 October 2009
two more
"There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham…"
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
"For there is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and to have recovered hope."
George Eliot, Adam Bede
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
"For there is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and to have recovered hope."
George Eliot, Adam Bede
04 October 2009
03 October 2009
two
"In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences."
Robert Green Ingersoll
"Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left."
Hubert Humphrey
Robert Green Ingersoll
"Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left."
Hubert Humphrey
01 October 2009
28 September 2009
70 x 70 x 70 x 70 x 7
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
26 September 2009
sliver meet plank
"We would all much better mend our ways if we were as ready to pray for one another as we are to offer one another reproach and rebuke." ~St. Thomas More
Light One Candle
Light one candle for the maccabee children
With thanks that their light didnt die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemakers time is at hand
Chorus:
Dont let the light go out!
Its lasted for so many years!
Dont let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears.
Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts
(chorus)
What is the memory thats valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
Whats the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out theyve not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!
(chorus)
Dont let the light go out!
Dont let the light go out!
Dont let the light go out!
25 September 2009
23 September 2009
you can only do what you are
The Benedictine ideal of the human being is not that of one who achieves and accomplishes things, not a person with an unusual religious gift, not a great ascetic, but the wise and mature person who knows how to bring people together, who creates around herself or himself an atmosphere of peace and mutual understanding.
Behind this idea image stands a high demand. No one can simply resolve to become a peacemaker. Only those who have created peace within themselves can make peace, only those who have become reconciled with themselves, their own weaknesses and faults, their needs and desires, their contradictory tendencies and ambitions.
Making peace is not a program of action that one could write on one's banners; rather, it must arise from inner peace. And inner peace is achieved only through a hard and unremitting struggle for inner purity and through prayer, in which one seeks to accept everything God presents, whether one's own weaknesses or those of others.
Benedict of Nursia - His Message for Today
Anselm Grun OSB
triumph of the cross
In one respect the cross does have a terrible aspect that we ought not to remove. To see that the purest of men, who was more than a man, was executed in such a grisly way can make us frightened of ourselves. But we also need to be frightened of ourselves and out of our self-complacency.
Here, I think, Luther was right when he said that man must first be frightened of himself so that he can then find the right way. However, the cross doesn't stop at being a horror; it is not merely a horror, because the one who looks down at us from the cross is not a failure, a desperate man, not one of the horrible victims of humanity.
For this crucified man says something different from Spartacus and his failed adherents, because, after all, what looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life's horror. The goodness of God himself looks on us, God who surrenders himself into our hands, delivers himself to us, and bears the whole horror of history with us.
Looked at more deeply this sign, which forces us to look at the dangerousness of man and all his heinous deeds, at the same time makes us look upon God, who is stronger, stronger in his weakness, and upon the fact that we are loved by God.
It is in this sense a sign of forgiveness that also brings hope into the abysses of history. God is crucified and says to us that this God who is apparently so weak is the God who incomprehensibly forgives us and who in his seeming absence is stronger.
Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI
Here, I think, Luther was right when he said that man must first be frightened of himself so that he can then find the right way. However, the cross doesn't stop at being a horror; it is not merely a horror, because the one who looks down at us from the cross is not a failure, a desperate man, not one of the horrible victims of humanity.
For this crucified man says something different from Spartacus and his failed adherents, because, after all, what looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life's horror. The goodness of God himself looks on us, God who surrenders himself into our hands, delivers himself to us, and bears the whole horror of history with us.
Looked at more deeply this sign, which forces us to look at the dangerousness of man and all his heinous deeds, at the same time makes us look upon God, who is stronger, stronger in his weakness, and upon the fact that we are loved by God.
It is in this sense a sign of forgiveness that also brings hope into the abysses of history. God is crucified and says to us that this God who is apparently so weak is the God who incomprehensibly forgives us and who in his seeming absence is stronger.
Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI
21 September 2009
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